


The Last War

by SolNiveAngelo (Mogadorian_Wolf)



Category: The Chronicles Of Vladimir Tod - Zac Brewer, The Slayer Chronicles - Zac Brewer
Genre: Character Death, F/F, F/M, M/M, Other Countries - Freeform, Prophecies, War, a lot of OCs - Freeform, after 12th grade kills, dark future, some spoilers for Third Strike
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-02
Updated: 2017-08-29
Packaged: 2018-11-08 03:50:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11073477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mogadorian_Wolf/pseuds/SolNiveAngelo
Summary: Vlad has created a powerful new vampire race that Elysia fears. Only it's not just vampires, it's slayers with new capabilities and drudges more powerful than ordinary humans. After 10 years of tension, Elysia makes a strike and the war begins. It engulfs the globe as the last fight for the future begins.





	1. OC characters

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea where this is going to go, but it's going to be intense. This first chapter will update as more OCs come in. They'll appear in the order they show up in the story. Feel free to let me know if you ship any of them or even request a little side story with a pair.  
> May contain some spoilers- I've warned you.

Troy Loskey- boy, turned by Kristoff, the first death

Octavian Dunken- boy, Troy’s friend who wanted to be his drudge, joins the Slayer group despite not being a natural born slayer for revenge on his friend, calls for war

Chase Abbott- boy, turned by Vlad, one of the oldest of the Pravus vampires, holds something against Zain, is on the Pravus council, doesn’t have a drudge though that might have something to do with the considerable amount of time he’s around Zain (some think he might be Chase’s secret drudge)

Zain Liam- boy, an older slayer, British, has been seen to save Chase’s life despite their constant hostilities

Aria Trench- girl, a young vampire turned by Sprat, works as a waitress, small, petite, Kristoff has a big crush on her

Valencia Elisha- girl, a slayer on Joss’s team, prefers to work alone and report back, 19

Elijah Ezekial Liam- boy, Zain’s younger brother

Morgan Ruby- girl, one of Valencia’s Elysia connections, created in the Pravus years, 16, maroon hair

Moriah Ruby- girl, a pravus vampire turned by October, Morgan’s younger sister, 12, magenta hair

Juilanna Richmanns- girl, a “normal” vampire that has worked on the council and has become close to Em to get rid of the Pravus vampires

Lacey Dust- girl, Morgan’s friend, a "normal" vampire

Braedon Henri- boy, a slayer that Joss recruited, shy, 16, called witch-boy, bilingual from Germany, suspected to have witch heritage

Dwayne Bailey- boy, a Australian pravus vampire turned by Kristoff

Dacian Elke- boy, originally from New Zealand but moved to Australia, a pravus vampire that’s a fan of sick puppies (the band), turned by Kristoff

Quentin Felix- boy, a pravus drudge that’s killed with Jonas

Jonas Adolf- boy, the Australian pravus vampire that is killed with his drudge, Quentin


	2. Prologue: The First Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first murder of a pravus vampire- that's done by Elysia at any rate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so since no one really made a request known, and I have this done, this is the chapter story you get. I will not promise a happy ending.
> 
> So if drinking Vlad’s blood heals D'ablo, and Vlad is a special vampire, how does it affect people he turns, especially since Snow is shown to have eyes that flash a different color as well? This is my answer to that question; I challenge everyone who reads this to come up with their own.   
> Also, there are so many OCs here. I needed people to kill off. Okay, that's really just an excuse, but I'm sticking with it.
> 
> I’m breaking my heart doing writing this scene. I apologize for so developing this character I’m just killing off, but I think it’s important to know that the pravus vampires are fairly close knit. And I have a big problem with just leaving things be.

Troy looked over his shoulder, wondering if he was really just being paranoid that someone was following him or if he was actually being stalked. Kristoff had warned him shortly after he’d been turned that there were whispered rumors of the “other” vampires not taking kindly to their growing numbers, the numbers of those with the pravus’s blood. They were faster, stronger, more powerful, and they’re capabilities only grew with age. _“You’ll start out with not a lot of differences in your basic abilities, but give it a few years and you’ll be running up there with the naturals. Six years and you’ll have some of the best telepathic abilities out there.”_

                Another shiver of bad feeling went through Troy, and he stopped looking over his shoulder. He’d only been turned a year ago and didn’t have much power or a drudge to help protect him. His heart stuttered, and he regretted not taking Octavian’s offer to walk him home or become his drudge. Why hadn’t he taken the offer up or better yet walked home with one of the older Pravus vampires. Chase would’ve been a good one to ask if he hadn’t been in another spat with the slayer boy Zain Liam. He didn’t understand their whole dispute.

                Something moved in the shadow, and suddenly the streets seemed very empty just as a light went out, shattering on the concrete below. Troy flinched away from it and pulled his phone out with shaking hands, desperately trying to locate his stalker. He punched in a familiar number with shaky hands. Another light went out right beside Troy, and he let out a shriek just as the phone picked up. His heart was beating desperately in his chest as he ran back into the light. There were footsteps behind him, definitely footsteps.

                “Troy?” Octavian asked high pitched. “Troy, where are you? I’ll grab… Kristoff, he just came in, and come get you okay?”

                “There’s something out here breaking the lights, Octavian,” Troy whispered, toeing further into the light as he kept looking around for his stalker. “I’m a few blocks from my home- my normal route.” Another light broke, and this time Troy saw a flash of teeth as he screamed. He tried to keep his breathing steady as he whimpered, “Please hurry.”

                On the other end, Octavian huffed and mumbled something to somebody beside him, probably Kristoff. “Hey, can you get into a building, somewhere with people. Stay with me on the phone, okay Troy? Maybe we should call the police.”

                “There’s an apartment building behind me, but it’s locked. I’ll see if I can get someone to let me in though.” His voice was shaking as he shuffled to the apartment building.

                “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Kristoff’s running toward you. He should be there in a couple minutes, and I’m right behind him.” Troy could hear Octavian’s voice shake over the phone as well. Then the light went out, and Troy barely registered pain in his neck before he collapsed.

                A boot crushed the phone, and a female voice spoke to a couple shadows. “Put a stake through his heart. I don’t want them to be able to tell the cause of death right away. Make sure the boy’s creator doesn’t see any of us. The time of the Pravus has come to an end.”

                She turned to leave, blood still staining her mouth and glistening fangs as she confidently moved into the darkness away from the crime scene. Behind her a gloved hand ruthlessly drove an undescriptive wooden stake through the young pravus vampire’s heart, before following his boss, his mistress. They were long gone by the time the silver haired pravus vampire showed up.

 

                Kristoff cursed when he saw the body of his newest turned vampire. Troy had always been so sweet even when he’d hesitantly asked Kristoff’s advice about Octavian at the club. _“I think he likes me, like wants to date me likes me,” Troy told him, following Kristoff as he made his ways around the swinging club. It wasn’t normally his kind of place- more pop than goth- but it was where Aria worked, and he was willing to visit to see her. Sprat was probably around here as well keeping an eye on his newly turned vampire._

_“Okay. If you don’t like him tell him. It’s not that big of a deal. Why are you asking me about it?”_

_Troy let out a little groan of frustration. “I don’t want to just turn him down; it’d break his heart. I just want to know what’s a good way of telling him that I’m not wanting to pursueing anything right now, and I’d like a little time, but not the space, because I kind of like the way he is around me- flirting and all, but I don’t want to give him false hope.”_

_“That’s incredibly complicated,” Kristoff told him, pausing from his pursuit to try and find the tiny little burnette that worked here. Sprat had better not find out and tease him endlessly about it, again. “Look I think you should just let it be unless he asks you out, and then you can tell him what you just told me. It’ll work itself out, you’ll see.”_

                But it hadn’t, because Troy was…. He could still be alive. He was a pravus vampire, even if he was a young one. They were hard to kill. He crouched beside the boy and checked his breathing, his heartbeat. There wasn’t any.

                Oh God. Octavian. How would he-

                “Troy?” Behind him Octavian’s voice shrieked, and then turned into a scream as the anemic, died blond ran to his friend’s side. “Is he… God tell me he’s still alive that there’s something we can do to help.”

                “He’s gone. Whatever was after him… we must’ve just missed it,” Kristoff informed him, voice breaking as he bit back his own tears. Octavian wailed, collapsing on top of his friend, his crush’s body. They’d never even gotten the chance. Kristoff swallowed it all back, until he could deal with it, until he knew the frail human wasn’t in danger as well.

                “I need to call Joss. He’ll know what to do in this situation,” Kristoff whispered, gently touching Octavian’s back. There was nothing that could make this better. Troy Loskey had been murdered. The only question was if he had been targeted specifically for the kind of vampire he was.


	3. Chapter 1: A Declaration of War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The pravus council talks about the Troy's death, and Joss sends one of his slayers to investigate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone wondering what happened to Meredith- she bailed because she couldn't handle the whole supernatural thing. That's what I'm going with for now.

“We looked over the body, talked around even with the Slayers. No one’s missing a stake, and it was a polished stake. Turns out the slayers have been staying off our territory in respect for the compromise of protecting humans from Elysia. Troy Loskey was killed by a vampire.” Joss reported standing in front of the pravus council without him. The chairs were all level on the floor at Vlad’s insistence that he wasn’t some organization 13 ruler.

“Elysia. They’ve declared war on us, haven’t they?” Vlad asked looking exhausted. He was sprawled over the two arms of his chair and tilted his head back. Joss shifted and held himself back from going over to his best friend to comfort him.

“Are we sure it wasn’t just a random attack by a pravus vampire hater or some crazy human? He was young. Could’ve been a vampire copycat,” Chase Abbott asked from his side throne. His eyes were fixed on Zain Liam instead of Joss, and Joss braced himself for the inevitable fight. Vlad met Joss’s gaze and rolled his eyes to show he was just annoyed by them as he was.

Zain almost growled from the entrance where he was leaning against the doorframe, his British accent still very present. “I’ve been doing this for seven years, you dimwitted bloodsucker. It’s our job. So of course we’re bloody sure, you bloody git. Next time watch who you’re insulting.”

“Oh, I was aiming to insult you-“ Chase stared back, but was interrupted as Kristoff abruptly stood up with a dark expression on his face.

“Troy was alive a few minutes before I got there. A human couldn’t have moved that fast. So keep your mouth shut Chase. No one really wants to hear you two verbally tear each other apart again.”

Chase held his hands up in plaintive gesture, and Zain smirked at him.

“The question is why Elysia has decided to act now. What do they have now that they didn’t before?” Snow brought up from her perch on the chair right beside Vlad. October was sprawled on her stomach on the chair next to her, staring at her girlfriend entranced. Snow caught the look and blushed before continuing, “We might be looking at a weapon that could bring down the Pravus.”

A hush silence fell over the room as they processed what Snow suggested.

“Bloody hell.”

 

Vlad threw open the door to his and Otis’s house. He might be 28 now, but he liked having Otis near him ever since the… incident his senior year. Even with giving Otis a boost of his blood, he was still more vulnerable than any of his other turned vampires. Joss closed the door more softly behind them. Smoke and sizzling sounds came from the kitchen as Otis called out, “So how was the meeting?”

Joss rubbed Vlad’s back as he passed, whispering in his ear, “I’ll meet you up in the room for that little… feeding session you promised.”

Vlad nodded, and Joss made his way up the stairs without letting Otis know he was here. Once a month Vlad would have Joss drink a little of his blood to increase his natural slayer abilities. He still watched Joss go up the stairs, before moving to the kitchen where Otis was.

“You know you could always come to the meetings yourself. I’ve told you before,” Vlad gently reminded his uncle, keeping his voice soft. Actually, it was probably soft most of the time; Joss and Henry had a tendency to take care of whatever was bothering the moment it arose.

Otis turned to look at him over his shoulder with a sad smile. “I know, Vlad. But I’m not one of you, nor will I ever be. It wouldn’t be right for me to be at your meetings. Go and see Joss. I’ll have a dinner for us shortly.”

Vlad didn’t ask how he always seemed to know when Joss was over, even if it wasn’t time to give some of his blood to him. He stared sadly at his uncle before turning to go upstairs to Joss. Some days were better than others for them since Nelly’s death (which sounded better than saying brutal murder in front of them).

Joss was sitting on his bed when Vlad, subdued, pushed open the door. His room was cleaner than it had been when he’d been a teenager. The floor was clear and carpeted, his shelves were filled with various sized books, and most of his things were neatly put away though he didn’t typically make his bed. Joss had apparently seen to that when he came up.

“He knows you’re here,” Vlad commented when Joss turned to look at him. “Says he’ll have dinner ready in a little bit. I think he thinks you’re staying over. Are you?”

Joss looked him over. “Course. I’m not leaving you alone after what happened. Henry’s on his way too. We can pull out the mattress, and he can sleep on the floor. Have you told Otis what happened the other day?”

Vlad sat down on the bed next to Joss, sliding up against the wall. “No. We can tell him together, in a nice gentle way. I don’t want him getting upset and worried about me again. We can handle this. Valencia’s already looking into Elysia, right?”

Joss nodded. “I sent her a message after the meeting. Apparently she’s over in England with Zain’s brother- I think he’s younger. She’s flying over tonight to check it out. I don’t know if Zain knows about her… relationship with his brother. I don’t think we should tell Zain. Let them figure it out themselves.”

“Don’t get blood on my bed sheets again,” Vlad warned him as he bit his own wrist before offering it to Joss. Joss swiftly took it and started sucking. Vlad sighed and closed his eyes and tilted his head back. Joss leaned into his chest as he slowly pulled away. Then he licked out, and Vlad shivered, opening his eyes.

                “What are you doing?” Vlad asked, sounding a little dazed.

                Joss smirked at him. “Making sure I don’t get blood on your beautiful bed sheets like you told me to. Is there a problem?”

                Vlad just gave him a dirty look that had Joss laughing.

 

                The plane had landed an hour ago, but Valencia had just gotten done reassuring Elijah that she wasn’t leaving him, she really did care about him, this was just work related stuff she had to handle, and no she wasn’t also dating his brother on the side. Even after all that, she still had the feeling Elijah still had doubts since she wouldn’t let him come. Zain would kill her if she put his baby brother in harm’s way; he might try to kill her just for being around him.

                She sauntered down the streets of New York, aiming for a well known V bar where rumors and gossip circled like flies on a corpse. They knew her there. Of course they also knew she was part of the Pravus Order, but that was hard to hide when your eyes flashed purple under pressure, or you had the word “pravus” tattooed on your upper back between your shoulder blades in Elysian. She still had some good sources.

                It fell dead quite when she pushed open the doors and all eyes saw who it was. One red-headed voice broke the stifling judging silence, “Elisha!”

                Valencia smiled at Morgan Ruby, an Elysian vampire, and made her way to the back booth where Morgan sat with her punk boots up on the seat across her. The booth had a curved clam like appearance that made it feel more secluded and secretive than it really was, but it was Morgan’s favorite. Upon closer examination, Valencia realized her hair looked a little more like maroon color than red. She also noticed that Morgan’s little sister, Moriah who was a pravus vampire, was curled up at her side with magenta hair as she smiled up at Valencia.

                The two girls were known for their died red hair that could range all the way between the pink zone to the purple zone. Both were turned after the Bathory incident on different side of the conflict but had remained close despite it. Morgan tended to wear more black punk clothes, while Moriah liked to wear rainbow and unicorns and fairies and for some reason the color shamrock green. Her favorite necklace was a rainbow shamrock with a picture of a unicorn head.

                “What news do you bring of the great Pravus?” Morgan asked as Valencia slid into the seat across from her bumping off the black boots. Moriah grinned at her, before sticking her tongue out. Valencia expertly ignored it.

                “Troy Loskey was apparently murdered a couple days ago. He was a yearling pravus vampire. They think it was Elysia: that they may have a secret weapon or something and are gearing up for war. Have you heard anything?”

                Morgan frowned, while Moriah sat up and looked at her sister seriously. As a pravus vampire herself, she was at risk, especially since she spent most of her days with her sister than anyone in the Pravus Order and didn’t have any drudge to keep an eye on her. Morgan crossed her arms and stared at the table with a world destroying scowl, before she spoke in something approaching a growl. “Yeah. I’ve heard some things. Whispers of an underground facility with jokes about Resident Evil’s umbrella corporation. I thought it was just a bunker for vampires to stay, a vampire homeless shelter of a sorts. But lately I’ve heard the name Juilanna Richmans whispered in the darker corners. Nothing specific, but…”

                “Julianna Richmans? Like Em’s right hand, Julianna Richmans?” Valencia asked in a quiet tone as she leaned closer. Em was one of the leaders of the anti-pravus movement since it cut into the power she had before, and she had several followers, but they’d always been careful not to attract too much attention, especially from the Pravus.

                Morgan sighed, her shoulders slumping forward in defeat. “Yeah. They might be building something in that underground facility, but I really don’t know.” She reached for a napkin and pulled a pen out of her top that had Valencia wondering about her choice of storage space. “I do know where the facility is. Lacey and I went to check it out after we heard. They tried to keep us out, saying they couldn’t let a pravus vampire in. Racist vampires- I mean, how horrible would it be to try getting along with the pravus vampires instead of constantly competing. Of course, they said that to Lacey’s face. Ever tried to keep Lacey out of a place with a lot of technology? She had fun getting in at least, until Moriah got freaked out.” She gave her sister a meaningful look.

                “Hey!” Moriah glared at her sister, before turning to Valencia for some support. “It was creepy down there. Half the lights were out, and they’d insisted on a Resident Evil marathon the night before to thoroughly prepare for what we might be facing.”

                Valencia stifled the laugh she felt bubbling up; she’d done similar things to Braedon. They might not actually be related, but Valencia had taken the young slayer as her brother anyway. Neither of them had any family left after the fall of the Slayer Society. She quickly pushed that line of thought away. It would only lead to things that couldn’t be changed. The brief moment of humor was already fading to the heartbreaking sadness.

                She grabbed the map Morgan had jotted down and stood up. Morgan raised her eyebrows like she knew what was going on. Valencia scowled at her. “I’ll check it out and inform McMillian.”

                “McMillian, not the pravus?” Moriah asked smirking. She knew that the slayers had a tendency to report to Joss McMillian over the true pravus, Vladimir Todd. _It’s not like it really mattered_ , Valencia thought sourly. _They were almost always beside each other anyways; they practically lived in the same house._

                Breaking into the top secret facility wasn’t all that hard considering they were supposed to be keeping out pravus vampires. Valencia looked around the empty control room, suspiciously. There was something deeply wrong here. She pulled out her phone and dialed up McMillian (her number one speed dial, and it wasn’t because she still had a crush on him no matter what Braedon insuated). As it rung, she pulled up the files.

Bunker

Dracula

Genisis

The Phoenix

                A shiver went through her at the last name. Braedon told her something about a phoenix rising from the ashes in one of his spell bind prophecy seeing phases of his. She swallowed and clicked on the file just as Joss picked up. “Valencia. You find something?”

                “Holy cow… Morgan Ruby just gave me a location of a secret base Elysia built. I’m checking it out no- oh God.” Valencia froze, horror shaking her to the core as she watched the second video in the file. “This can’t be.”

                “What?”

                Something flickered out of the corner of her eye. She turned and dropped her phone with a gasp. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

                “Valencia? Valencia?!”


	4. Chapter 2: A bad feeling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joss receives Valencia's call and decides to go after her.  
> Snow tells October her fear on what might be going on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Birthday extra! I'm 21 today.  
> Also Snow/October scene They're in my to three favorite ships from this series (with Joss/Vlad, obviously, and Dorian/Sirius)

Vlad jolted fully awake as Joss cried one of his favorite slayers names. “What’s going on?”

                Joss shook his head, looking pale. “She went to investigate a new Elysia bunker that Morgan told her about, and now she’s not answering.”

                “Hang up and call Morgan. Tell her what happened and see if she can check it out with her own team. Make sure she knows not to go in alone. Valencia’s in New York. Morgan’s in New York. And we’re still in Bathory. Make sure you try to get more sleep tonight. You’re not much help to anyone if you’re exhausted,” Vlad told him, laying back down.

                “I was trained to go for days without sleep,” Joss reminded him, hanging up on Valencia and dialing up Morgan’s number like Vlad had suggested. Vlad rolled his eyes as he sleepily nuzzled into Joss’s neck.

                Henry snorted from the mattress they’d tossed on the floor beside them, tiredly mumbling, “And we all agreed that was terrible for you. In the morning we can talk about taking shifts so someone’s always awake to deal with this crisis stuff, but tonight you’re going to curl up with Vlad and sleep.”

                Vlad hummed in agreement and sleepily kissed Joss’s neck, keeping his fangs tucked in. It was hard to stop the kissing once he started; it was addictive. “Valencia is just as tough as you are.” Another couple kiss.“Whatever got Troy,” A couple more kiss,“couldn’t have gotten her.” Just one more.“I’m sure she’ll be fine.”

                Joss was slumped against him at the kisses, letting a relaxed sigh, before tensing. “Hey, Morgan. Valencia just called me- Yeah. She was at that facility when she… I think she dropped her phone or something. What? No.” Joss let out a low growl. “Fine. I’ll see you in the morning.”

                Joss hung up and set his phone on the stand beside the bed, before settling back down on the bed, his head resting on Vlad’s shoulder as his arm wrapped around his sort-of boyfriend’s waist. “She’s going to check it out, but she wants me there in the morning, either way. She sounded a little scared of the area.”

                “Hmm… you’ll have us with you,” Vlad muttered, his hand slipping under Joss’s shirt to his scars from his “purification.” It still sent a trickle of anger through him when he thought about it.

                “No. I want you to stay away from the danger. It’s important to keep you safe,” Joss butted in fiercely. “You’re the pravus- the original. If we lose you… we could lose everything.”

                He waited for Vlad to say something, but after a moment, he realized Vlad had already fallen back asleep. They could discuss it in the morning when he was packing to leave for a couple days, Joss thought with a sigh as he closed his eyes to drift off himself.

 

The morning sun poked Vlad to at least open his eyes. He might not get burned alive from a little sun, but it was still annoying for mornings or keeping his skin pale (never mind the awful sunburns he could still get). Henry was already sitting up on his mattress, hair sticking up all over the place. He was looking around like he might still be half asleep and this was some bizarre dream world. Joss sighed and snuggled into Vlad like he was a part of the bed. At least, he was still sleeping and not denying that he actually needed to sleep. That had been a hard battle, even with Henry on his side.

He yawned and stretched out, causing Joss to halfway fall on top of him shirtless. Vlad had no idea when Joss had lost his shirt or where it had gone. It was amazing how often they lost clothing at some point during the night to the point that it was a running joke between them on asking in their morning if they’re decent.

“Did I dream that Joss got a freaky call from Valencia?” Henry asked abruptly, looking over at Vlad with a dazed look.

Vlad blinked at him in response. “No…. I think that actually happen. I remember something like that at any rate, and I doubt we had the same dream.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Joss sleepily muttered in Vlad’s chest. He shifted his head so it wasn’t buried against Vlad’s chest so much anymore and yawned, his arms tightening around Vlad’s waist. Joss was clingy and cuddly in the mornings.

Henry and Vlad yawned right after him. Vlad almost fell right back to sleep, but Henry at least seemed to remember Joss had asked a question. “We were talking about what happened last night, whether it was a dream or not that you got a call from Valencia. Does she still have a crush on you by the way?”

Joss bolted up at that with wide eyes. “Valencia! Oh God, I almost forgot! I’ve got to take care of that right now. Gotta pack for a couple days.”

He was out of bed just as quickly, almost falling from the blankets that weren’t ready to let go. Vlad just watched him sleepily with a yawn. “Well, at least nothing tried to eat me during the night.”

“That you know of,” Joss shot back as he dug through the drawers, tossing his clothes into a pile. He looked like a desperate man looking for drugs, Vlad thought a little guilty.

“Neither of you would’ve been awake enough to deal with it, if something did happen,” Henry countered as he tried to stifle another yawn. He hadn’t gotten out of bed, yet either.

Joss’s bag was already half-packed, Vlad realized, still laying on his bed like he might go back to sleep. He should probably go visit Braedon to make sure the young witch-slayer was okay. He was close to Valencia. If something was wrong, he probably sensed it and was trying to handle it like he handled the flashbacks of his time in the Slayer Society bootcamp. He could still remember the first time he’d seen the kid, eleven years old and his back a mess of open wounds and scars that Joss was worriedly attending to, thought he’d been half asleep at the kid’s bedside: _Vlad stared at the scene before him. He knew Joss could be protective and caring, had seen this side when they first met, in their final battle of the prophecy. But this just seemed different, somehow. It was dark, and the scene was moonlit. Joss lifted his head to look at Vlad, sensing his presence in a way neither of them had figured out. There were dark bags under his eyes. “I think he’ll make it. They almost killed him though, just because…” Joss seemed to have to swallow back the tears. “Just because he wasn’t as strong or as fast as the other kids. How could I ever been a part of something like that Vlad?”_

_Vlad carefully made his way into the hotel room Joss was checking out. “They brainwashed you, made you think it was all for the greater good. They made you see what they wanted you to Joss. But you broke out of that; you’re not responsible for what they did to these kids. You’re the one that saved them. In fact, some of them see you as their hero.”_

_He sat beside him and took a look at the beaten kid. His eyes stirred under his eyelids, and for a moment Vlad wondered if he was listening to them. He brushed the fair hair off the kid’s forehead and gently kissed, vowing, “I’m going to look out for you.”_

_Joss smiled at him, a wane, thankful smile and then turned back to checking the kid’s wounds._ Maybe it was that moment of helpless vulnerability that had both him and Joss feeling so protective of the kid, or maybe he sort of reminded them of themselves.

“You and Otis keep an eye on Vlad while I’m gone,” Joss instructed as he swung his backpack over his shoulder, jolting Vlad all the way awake.

“I’ll bring Braedon over here then. He’d do better with Otis around as well,” Vlad warned him, finally actually sitting up- more or less.

Henry flopped back on his mattress with a half laugh. “I’m surprised you didn’t say his ‘grandpa Otis.’ Everyone knows that’s what those two pretty much are.”

Joss flashed a half smile at that as he shifted and tugged on his backpack straps. “Take care of that kid, no matter what we find out about Valencia.” He swallowed, and Vlad swore he saw some tears in his eyes. Both Valencia and Braedon were part of the slayer kids he rescued from the Society’s grasp when Elysia had hired them to take out Vlad and the few other pravus vampires that had already come into existence. They were like his kids.

“I will.”

 

October kicked her boots up on the coffee table, while Snow dried her hair. “So what you think? Is this going to be like the Society before their fall all over again? We lost a couple good people to that war, gained some too.”

Snow smiled at her. “I don’t see into the future like Braedon does. But I think this is going to be worse. You remember what Braedon told us early on?”

“The second prophecy?” October sat up worriedly. The witch-slayer was almost as popular as the original pravus with a touch more vulnerability that made him seem more like a younger brother with an eerie I-can-see-the-future-air to him.

Snow nodded as she hung the towel over the chair and moved to sit beside her girlfriend, leaning into October’s side. She had a dream last night that October had came out when her father had visited and berated him, kicked his ass to defend Snow. There’d been a kiss, and October had escorted her inside, and she stayed at October’s place… It had been a nice dream.

“I think it’s starting to come true,” Snow admitted in a whisper. October’s arm tightened around her shoulder. The first prophecy had ended with a lot of people dead, but this one promised a lot more, and Snow feared what it would mean for their close knit Pravus Order, because she had a feeling Troy was only the first hit. She squeezed her eyes shut and let herself silently cry against October’s chest while October rubbed her back.

“We’ll just have to fight against it. Find some way around it,” She quietly whispered, but her voice didn’t sound as strong as usual. This was bigger than them; it was bigger than the last prophecy.


	5. Chapter 3: Building Fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joss lands in New York.  
> Vlad gets a call from Australia with no good news.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Braedon is like one of my favorite characters I've created.  
> First off, I've got no idea how this got so long. I was just happily writing away, went to check my word count, and it was like over 3,ooo.  
> Second off, is anyone still reading this? Please let me know what you think.

Joss landed, feeling uneasy. Since the formation of the Order of the Pravus (Harry Potter was a terrible influence on the name- he wasn’t sure rather it had been Henry’s, Vlad’s, or his idea to name -their group that with a deliberate joke toward Harry Potter’s Order of the Phoenix- it might’ve been Braedon with his whole Phoenix prophecy), he’d traveled all over the world by himself. He’d even investigated mysterious deaths that might be Elysia related and against the treaty Vlad had formed with them. Somehow this was different. It was closer to home; it was one of his best slayers. His heart thudded dangerously at the thought that Valencia might’ve fallen prey to the same creature that had murdered Troy Loskey.

He didn’t need to stop by the baggage claim with his backpack being the only luggage he brought. Morgan had assured him that he’d be waiting at the airport for him with the other two of her trio. He tried not to be mad at her. Valencia could’ve needed help last night, and she wouldn’t go check it out without him. He might’ve been a pravus slayer, but both her and Lacey had the green card of Elysia membership that could’ve helped out. They could’ve offered to take Valencia as their slave or something to sooth Elysia. He knew they would’ve treated her decently.

"Yo, McMillian!" Morgan called out from the crowd, waving for him. Two reddish head and a blond were relatively easy to spot in the crowd especially with their different styles of punk, kiddish fantasy, and some replica outfit of a character Joss didn’t really know except it was some game from Square Enix that the girls were obsessed with- Lightening?

He made his way over to them. Lacey came right up to him, clapping a hand against his shoulder, quietly whispering in his ear, "Did you bring your stake? Cause things are intense down there. Rumors of some monster lurking from the facility has made their rounds since Valencia disappeared, along with the appearance of dead vampires."

Joss tensed. Before, the Society would’ve been to blame for such deaths, but they had fallen five years ago by their own prodigy’s hand. Joss didn’t feel a lot of guilt about that, except for the fact that several of his friends had died in the insurgence. "You think this creature that’s being rumored from the underground Elysia facility can kill vampires?"

Lacey looked at him solemnly. "I fear it. The one time we’d taken a detour through there, I got an Umbrella corporation feel from it- the animated ones. We never watched the others."

"I thought you did! You forced me to play the entire game series which wasn’t rated for my age, while you ate popcorn in the blanket tent I built and gossiped about whether vampire, slayer, drudge or human boys were better to date!" Moriah yelped.

Lacey just gave a pitying look. "Honey, you’re a vampire. You’re never going to age. I think it’s safe to throw those guidelines out the window."

Joss was kind of glad they wouldn’t be mothers; he’d feel sorry for the kids. The only consolation would’ve been that October and Snow would’ve been good with the kid. They had a habit of turning young ones that were close to death- from a cancer to a car crash. He had to admit they did work together, even when he’d been a little heartbroken for Vlad when he broke up with Snow. He and Meredith had broken up shortly into her college career when they found it hard to get past Joss’s slayer life- Vlad had brought back her memories of that night to try and make the relationship easier for Joss. In the end he’d taken the memories back at Joss’s request so she could at least have quite nights again. He’d always been there for Joss, maybe it was only right that they fall into a relationship like Snow and October had so much earlier on.

He cleared his throat, pushing those memories away.Valencia was more important, not dwelling on past heartbreak. "You can talk about this later. Take me to where you sent Valencia. We’ll look into the deaths of the vampires and the rumored monster afterwards."

Lacey and Morgan nodded, turning to trot out of the airport. Morgan looked up at him with her big blue-green eyes. "I heard about Troy Loskey. Octavian isn’t taking it well, is he?" Joss nodded, swallowing back the lump in his throat and the tears stinging his eyes. She nodded, looking downcast. "I wish I could’ve come for the meeting, but you know…" She gestured to Morgan and Lacey, who were deep in conversation.

Joss gestured for her to follow him as he went after the two best friends. He didn’t know if they were talking about boys, some game, or the lastest happenings. Morgan trotted along at his side, staring at the ground for a moment, before she looked up at him. "Joss. I’m worried about Braedon. He knows what’s going to happen. He told me. I have his journal too; he gave it to me when he visited with Valencia last month. Made me promise not to open it until it was time."

Braedon reminded Joss of Dorian in some ways, with his odd prophetic ways, but he seemed gentler and softer than Dorian had. They’d both been through unbelievable torture that brought them to their prophecies, and Joss feared what else they may have in common. He couldn’t imagine losing Braedon, his ward, the way he’d lost Dorian, and he knew Vlad would react worse than he had when Dorian had died.

"Vlad’s keeping an eye on him, and I have Henry and Otis keeping an eye on him. Braedon’s about as safe as he’ll be. You know neither Vlad nor Otis will let anything happen to him," Joss assured her just as they caught up to Morgan and Lacey.

Morgan cocked her head at Joss as they approached. "Hanging out with my sister instead of me? I’ve been hitting on you since we met!"

"She’s twelve," Joss shot back with a disgusted look. "We were just talking. You two need to stop reading into everything. Some things are just what they are at face value."

Moriah rolled her eyes. "They’re worse when they’re together." She fixed wide innocent eyes on Joss, in the next moment."Hold my hand when we go into the underground facility, okay? I’m still a child that could get lost or eaten in there."

"Oh my gosh, Moriah! For the last time, we were joking! Nothing’s going to eat you," Morgan groaned, and Joss swore Lacey actually looked jealous when he actually took the twelve year old vampire’s hand like he would Cecile if she was still alive, if….

Paty’s body laid sprawled on the ground in a pool of blood. The moon hovered over the whole scene, and Joss almost lost his stomach. Vlad rubbed his back. "We need to at least check. Cecile could still be alive."

He looked up at the quaint little house that Dorian had hid his sister and her drudge. She was supposed to be safe as long as Joss didn’t visit, didn’t lead anyone to her. She was supposed to be safe. Joss shakily made his way to the door with Vlad firmly at his side, invisible but a constant warm, reassuring presence. Joss wanted to reach out and grab Vlad’s hand, but he tightened his fist to stop that impulse and took a deep breath.

Vlad pushed open the door for him. The lights were off, and when he stepped in, glass crunched under his feet. His heart was pounding a mile a minute. It was like watching Dorian drain Cecile all over again, like the haunting nightmares that followed, and he was frozen all over again. He couldn’t look. He was a Slayer! And he couldn’t bring himself further than that half step into Cecile’s supposed safe house. He’d handed off his stake to Vlad sure he’d be facing certain death with the other vampire. This shouldn’t be as hard as that.

"Let me look. You don’t need to see," Vlad whispered like he knew what was going through Joss’s head and maybe he did. The Pravus had that kind of power.

"She’s my sister." Joss could hear the brokenness in his voice in that moment. It was supposed to mean that he had to go in, to see, but it didn’t sound like that. He could see Vlad’s sympathetic smile, could feel his gentle hand on Joss’s back, and hear his gentle voice; "I know, Joss. That’s why you shouldn’t have to go in and look. You shouldn’t have to face that sight again; that’s why you have me."

And Joss hated how much he knew Vlad was right, how much he needed to lean against his best friend, who should’ve been a slayer’s enemy. He closed his eyes as another trembling truth left his lips: "I don’t want you to leave me, either."

"Then hold my hand, and don’t look," Vlad commanded in that soft voice he’d grown into since we built our own group. It worked on a lot of their new recruits who had left rough lives before one of the inner order members saved them.

Joss reached over and grasped Vlad’s hand. Glass crunched under their feet as the stepped into the dark house, and Joss had to keep his breathing calm. He could hear Vlad’s harsh breaths as well and feel Vlad’s hand tightened on his.

"She’s gone. They…" Vlad gagged, and Joss instinctively looked. There was a pile of ash on the floor with Cecile’s severed head resting on top of it.

　

"Joss!"

He jolted at the call of his name. The girls were looking at him with concern. A taxi was waiting for them on the side of the road. Even the driver was staring at him. He flushed. He should’ve gotten better at having these flashbacks. Vlad always seemed to be able to have a way of stopping them, keeping Joss calm and level headed.

"Sorry. Just remembering something. Shall we go, then?" He quickly offered up with a forced smile. Moriah looked at him doubtful, but the older girls nodded and climbed into the back of the taxi. He moved to follow, but Moriah stopped him for a moment.

"Don’t shut everyone out if you’re suffering, okay? I know we’re not your boyfriend or your cousin or really close, but if you need to talk about something, I’m here."

Joss nodded and climbed into the taxi. He guiltily wished Vlad was here to hold his hold at least emotionally if not physically. Really, they should probably work on that attachment thing.

　

Vlad felt a smidge better even with Joss being so far away just by seeing Braedon curled up on Otis’s lap while they watched some German movie without subtitles. Vlad thought, it was his way of touching back on his home country when he still had the harsh memoires of the Society’s treatment that hung over him. Otis’s face was softer and more relaxed as he held Braedon. Vlad thought it had something to do with Braedon calling him grandpa.

Henry came down the stairs, pulling Vlad’s attention away from watching them. He looked grim faced and stopped halfway down the stairs, focusing his gaze on Vlad. "Dacian Elke and Dwayne Bailey are calling. There’s a problem in Australia that you need to hear."

A cold chill ran down Vlad’s spine. When would this end? First the prophecy, then the truth on what happened to his mother, then the society’s recruitment and "purification" of the youth… It was like the world kept on coming, wanting to see how much the Pravus could take before he broke. He closed his eyes, for a moment he felt like he was falling backwards as the idea of that maybe this was what Joss had been feeling when he’d been with the society, when he lost his sister again.

He pushed it aside and opened his eyes to look at Henry with his calm, in-charge aura in place. This would be one of the few calls he would take without Joss at his side, but he had Henry who’d been there for him even longer than Joss had.

"Alright. I want you there with me."

Braedon looked up with his solemn grey eyes. "Should I come?"

Vlad shook his head as he went up the stairs after Henry. He shifted his mind from how in the world his bridging the human and vampire worlds to such a tense political game that threatened to go into full war to the more prominent problem.

Henry’s laptop was open on the desk in my room, where Dacian Elke and Dwayne Bailey were softly talking on the Skype screen with grim expressions. Vlad felt his heart start to fall like he was falling off the school roof the way he so often did in his nightmares. He took a seat at the desk, and Henry stopped at his shoulder.

"What happened?"

Dacian turned to Vlad with a dark face. "Quentin Felix and Jonas Adolf were found murdered early this morning. There were signs that Quentin was killed first, but he seemed to have killed an Elysian vampire first."

Dwayne glared at his partner. "Don’t skip the other important part." He turned back to the screen. "There were two other Elysian vampires found dead on the sight as well with unknown cause. They seemed to have died the same way Jonas did."

"We thought at first it was a retaliation for the blood rain that fell last week and killed all the Elysian vampires in the area," Dacian picked up. "But it seems some of the Elysian vampires were killed the same way, as Dwayne said."

Vlad leaned back in his chair with a frown. He could feel Henry’s supporting presence beside him, but it wasn’t even close to Taco Tuesdays, and Joss was in New York investigating Valencia’s odd call (he refused to even think she could be dead so close to Troy’s death). It felt like the little… he hesitated to call it an empire, even if everyone else seemed…. was crashing down on him, and he wanted to bury his head in his hands for several seconds, but he was the leader; he had to appear strong, like he knew what he was doing.

"It’s beginning then," Braedon’s calmly stated from behind them. Vlad turned to stare at him. He hadn’t heard the young Pravus slayer come in. In some ways, Braedon reminded him of Dorian, especially with his odd powers and future seeing abilities even before he joined the Pravus group. Zain didn’t call the sixteen year old "witch boy" for no reason."

"What do you mean?" Henry demanded as Otis came in behind the German teen. Vlad wouldn’t have put it past Braedon to have gotten up to follow them up here right after he told him no and left Otis behind with the movie still playing. Otis would’ve paused it before following him up.

Vlad spun the chair around to face the sixteen year old boy who in some ways felt like his own child or a younger brother. "Braedon has visions. We’ve been trying to keep it quiet, but it seems to be getting worse, hasn’t it?" Braedon nodded, and Vlad continued on, keeping his eyes locked on the younger boy. "A couple years after we took him in, he gave this big prophecy about what sounds like the end of the world."

"Or the beginning, depending on how you look at it," Braedon cut in, he pulled his hoodie a little further down his face. It looked like a hoodie Vlad had lost a while back, but he didn’t mind so much if it was. Braedon was shy around other people after what happened with the Society, maybe before then, but Vlad didn’t really know him before.

One of the Australian contacts cleared his throat, and Vlad turned his chair backs to face the computer. Dwayne was looking amused at least. Dacian on the other hand looked more annoyed at being briefly forgotten, or maybe he was annoyed that they had kept Braedon's gift and prophecy from them.  
"And we don't get to know this prophecy?" Dacian asked with a scowl. Dwayne teasingly grinned stroking his arms as he slid his arms around his boyfriend and pulled him back against his chest. Vlad nodded at him appreciatively as Dacian turned to rest his head against Dwayne’s chest.

"They don’t know the full prophecy, anyway," Braedon said softly, and Vlad looked over his shoulder to see the teen wandering closer with Otis right behind him. He took a careful seat on the edge of the bed. "I wrote it down in a journal a while back. They only know the first part about the phoenix rising from the ashes and blood raining from the sky. It’s five lines long it total."

Everyone was quite after that announcement. Braedon seemed perfectly content with it, pulling his legs up onto the bed and crossing them. Otis looked concerned as he carefully sat beside the teen and put an arm around him.

"So… are you going to tell us the rest of the prophecy then?" Henry broke in, saying what everyone was thinking.

"No." He abruptly pushed to his feet. "You don’t want to know what the future holds; you don’t want to know what the prophecy says. Trust me. It’s something you won’t be able to get from your head; it’s worse than the first one ever was."

He walked out of the room. Otis stood and looked at the other boys. "I’ll talk to him."

Vlad knew he wasn’t going to talk to Braedon about the prophecy; he was going to try to comfort the teen. He didn’t bother telling the others that. Henry probably suspected the same thing, and Dacian would probably complain about it. They had much to talk about with the current… situation without that protest


End file.
